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This is the catch-all for discussion around Giant Bomb, it's content, personalities etc. It started as a thread to talk about Whiskey Media introducing premium memberships way back in the day but now it's just for talking about Giant Bomb.

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Original post

So, what most people thought was going to happen has happened. Whiskey Media (owners of Giant Bomb, Screened, Tested, Comic Vine and Anime Vice) are implementing a paid membership program. This kind of makes me sad, not so much because it's happening so much as it's pretty clear from what they were saying between the lines on the preview podcast that this is because their business model hasn't been working out and they need the money. It's $5/month or $45/year but I don't know if you really get all that much for it:

- No ads for yearly members only (there's very few if any now anyway.)
- HD Flash videos (which are a myth, they're never true HD) and the ability to download any videos (maybe useful to some but useless to me.)
- Access to their new HTML5 mobile site.
- Site avatar award.
- T-shirt for yearly subscribers.
- Access to a live show they're thinking about doing and other added features, none of which were defined or have a timeline.- Full Bombcast access. The show is being split into two one hour segments. Only subscribers get it all on release week, others will get the first hour the week of release and the rest the following week.

I really love Giant Bomb and what those guys do over there but if I'm honest, this doesn't sound like a great value for someone on the tight budget I am. I think splitting up the Bombcast is a colossal mistake that will severely splinter their audience and I'm not much on the idea of paying for stuff that may come but no one knows what it is or when. This kind of sounds like it was written by a marketing executive. On the other hand, I really want to support the content I like and if it's either this or have them start to have to take on obnoxious advertising like you see on GameTrailers and the like, it might be worth at least trying the monthly one. What are other Giant Bomb fans thinking?

I gotta say, Jeff playing a PS2 Garfield game is just mesmerizing. Most of it is I know just how bad and frustrating that type of crap 3D platformer can be. It's just some damn entertaining self-torture.

The "Mexican City" theme was driving me actually nuts. I'm not sure how he played the whole level without chewing his ears out.

If any Abby doubters remain, which I doubt, her solution to Drew's omission in her Sims show must have surely slayed them.

He seemed to be in a stressed or bad mood. He doesn't usually rush that much through menus. Not sure what to chalk it up to.
Dan would have learned a very important lesson if he had permanently dismissed The Abomination instead of Gita Jackson.

I've never enjoyed The Sims series, so the video series based on it so far has no appeal, even after sitting through half of episodes 0 and 1. Is the game itself supposed to be enjoyable, or just annoying?

I've never enjoyed The Sims series, so the video series based on it so far has no appeal, even after sitting through half of episodes 0 and 1. Is the game itself supposed to be enjoyable, or just annoying?

Normally it's enjoyable if you're into, well, the Sims. It's a virtual dollhouse where you are amused by the stupid things the AI does, including die in various ways. It can also be a storytelling medium, especially with mods to make it that way.

The way Abby's doing it is more chaotic because, by default, you pause the game a lot to issue orders and have a maximum of 8 people in any given household, so thirteen of them without pausing is absurdly hard. One bathroom definitely doesn't help, either.

But some people don't enjoy The Sims, so you might just want to skip it. I did the same thing with their PUBG streams since I don't really care about that game.

Is Abby not pausing while doing the Sims because that's part of The Rules, or she's just not thinking to do it? I'm halfway through the first episode and found that a little frustrating. I'm not a huge fan of the decision to work to earn enough money to buy the thing to cause the death, the pace at which they are earning money by selling paintings seems untenable, but maybe the curve will pick up soon...I love the idea of this series, and Abby's Sims look incredible, but the first hour or so hasn't been what I'd hoped. Fingers crossed things will pick up and they'll figure out the best way to present this stuff.

Hang on for the second half of the episode. She eventually climbs the earning curve and starts making good money. I think she mentioned it at some point, but the curve looks bad at the beginning because everyone's painting skills are low, and it improves as they skill up.

Definitely stay tuned for

Spoiler:

Drew the food cart worker.

The pausing thing I think was a throwaway "rule" created on the fly at the beginning. I dunno, the chaos of 13 sims plus one bathroom plus no pausing is funny to me.

I don't think not pausing has to do with time constraints. In some situations, pausing would actually save time, because it would give her the chance to prevent some stuff from going wrong that might otherwise not have. This way, things can go wrong, and she has to fix it without pausing (see: the bathroom troubles) which would end up taking longer. I think it's just a rule for fun because it makes a better show.

POLL: Do the Beasters beat XCOM? For those who are keeping up on Exquisite Corps.... I'm torn. They're starting to see Sectoid Commanders and they don't have Psionics, and they are very top-heavy (dependent on a few soldiers), so if they lose Ryckert they could be in trouble.....

That series is a trainwreck mainly because, as usual, Dan throws any sort of logic to the wind and just goes for what's funny or amusing to him. Unfortunately, XCOM is a game that requires at least some planning or patience, so...